Not so much a walk as a pilgrimage. That is certainly how many of those who slog up this section of the Pennine Way regard the trek from Stanbury up and over Wadsworth Moor in West Yorkshire.
For this is the path to Top Withens, the magnificently bleak — and now ruined — farmhouse which was the inspiration for one of the greatest classic novels in English literature.
Emily Bronte gave it the name ‘Wuthering Heights’, home of the heroine Cathy Earnshaw. Though the author would superimpose a grander fictional mansion on this spot, the setting has not changed since the book appeared in 1847.
It is the last remnant of a dwelling before you really are out on the ‘wily, windy moors’ — as Kate Bush described the scene in her brilliant 1978 debut single of the same name, one which introduced Wuthering Heights to an entirely new, late 20th century audience.
It is a delightful — though some might say ‘spooky’ or even ‘Gothic’ —…
